This post is written by James Burgess, a writer and teacher of astrology. He has published works on Sabian Symbols and is currently working on a commentary about Dane Rudhyar’s contribution to Sabian Symbols.
On 6th January, Uranus moves out of retrograde and stations at 29 degrees of Aries. ‘Stations’ have special importance, so when a slow-mover like Uranus ‘stops still’ as it prepares to move out of retrograde and into direct motion, we are wise to take stock.
The Sabian Symbol for this momentary period of rest is “A celestial choir singing” or, according to Dane Rudhyar, “The Music of the Spheres”.
To grasp the meaning of this, we may need to consider what Uranus has been doing while in the sign of Aries, and also, what spiritual realization the Sabian Symbol is pointing us towards.
Uranus’ cycle around the Sun is 84 years, so it spends around 7 years in each sign. It is always helpful to know where we are in time – especially when the world is rapidly changing. Is one era ending and another beginning? We have to understand what has changed, and keep up with new ways of doing what we do.
Uranus’ job in the cosmic scheme of things is to energize and awaken, to move things along so that nothing blocks the flow of energy in any state of affairs. This, of course, applies both personally and globally.
Like electricity, all energy is polarised between positive and negative, yang and yin if you prefer, and Uranus is the blasting, corrective force that sparks the electrical flow between these two poles of life so that a dynamic balance is restored.
It acts like lightning – suddenly, unpredictably and shockingly, taking a fiery path that removes energy excesses and releases impossible-to-sustain tensions.
Typically we get stuck in a place that was once helpful yet is no more. Then Uranus acts! It has no remorse or compassion; it simply asserts the dynamism of life over a slow, stagnant death.
The period to look at is between March 2011 and March 2019. Certainly, the world has been shocked and forced to deal with things. The shocks have taken the form of violent natural disasters – from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear catastrophe caused by an earthquake and tsunami to California’s wildfires. The shocks have also been seen socially and politically as well.
Perhaps on a personal level, we can also identify something very upsetting that occurred during this time and totally disturbed the normal routines of our own lives.
Directly or indirectly our personal lives have all been nudged or kicked into a deeper awareness of our own circumstances.
We need to know how best to manage our new situations. We cannot ignore the changes and bury our heads in the sand like so many ostriches!
This brings us to the Sabian Symbol at Aries 29. According to Dane Rudhyar, the keynote for this degree is ‘attunement to the cosmic order’ and its message is that we must listen to the inner voice. Then we learn to become more in harmony with life itself by becoming sensitive to the Universal Chord.
Each of us has a small part to play and each essential part adds a little more grace to beautify the whole orchestrated melody of life.
Each of us can become a little bit more intuitive if we trust that inner voice. On some deep and subtle level we can feel, or ‘just know’, what change is required of us at any time. If we do not, then sometimes Uranus acts upon us, without courtesy or grace, to remind us forcefully that life is for living, a dynamic process of constant change.
If we indulge too much in comfort and security, trying to control the uncontrollable then we may well lose access to the inner voice and the important survival instinct that is very much to do with it.
We have little choice about whether or not Uranus will disturb us; whether we like it or not it will! But we do have a choice about how quickly we can act to reduce the difficulties.
The more we pay attention to our intuition, the more likely we are to act in good time to avoid serious inconvenience or worse. With a deeper understanding we can act more quickly, and the sooner we act, the easier it is to influence the outcome.
Read More:
Intuitive Astrology: Uranus in Taurus
